So…
How was I supposed to answer him?
Did Iwantto go?
I didn’t have to think about it too long. The answer was: not so much. Normally, I wouldn’t mind going. I really wasn’t very busy, and I didn’t want to be around Jason more than I needed to since we were on thinner ice than usual. On top of that, I didn’t want to talk to Mr. Cooper about the day before and cause another argument between him and Rip, because that’s what would happen. I had already planned on going to bother the guys on the floor to see what I could help them with.
But if I insisted I didn’t want to go, he would know I was butt-hurt, and I was almost never butt-hurt. If he thought that, he would know he had gotten under my skin.
Rip had just been my boss. He did to me what he would have done to any of the guys. I had no logical reason to take it personally.
But it was really hard to know thatandaccept it.
It was hard to tell your heart what your brain was smart enough to understand.
“Nothing’s pending?” he asked when I still hadn’t replied.
There was always something pending, technically.
He didn’t wait for me to answer. He didn’t give me a chance to give him an answer. “Finish your lunch, and then we’ll head out.”
I didn’t need to go with him. I actually wasn’t even sure why he wanted me to. He might listen to me sometimes, but not that much.
But…
I was better than this. I wasn’t going to let him get to me. I wasn’t going to let himknowthat he had.
“Okay,” I finally got out, shrugging. I had made myself let Jason do what was on the schedule for the day since it had only been small projects, and I’d watched to make sure he did it right. I hadn’t wanted to, but that’s why Mr. Cooper had stuck him with me. To learn. Me leaving would be good, for both of our sakes. There were only a couple things left the rest of the day that needed to be done.
I could be a mature, reasonable person and put the day behind me.
I was loved. I had a good job. I had everything I needed. I’d had a decent date the night before, but I had another one coming up.
Every day was a new day that gave you the opportunity to have your entire life ahead of you.
And that was what I was going to keep telling myself.
* * *
“What doyou mean you’re leaving?”
I tried to control my temper—a temper that I didn’t normally have unless it was provoked, a temper that this guy seemed to stoke like a snake charmer, like it was his superpower, while my superpower was that I was easygoing and didn’t get mad that often.
But I guess even Superman had his kryptonite.
Mine was a coworker with an attitude problem who had cheated on my sister. An attitude problem that I had unfortunately noticed mostly only flared up in my company.
That seemed to be a running theme throughout my life for some reason that I wasn’t about to focus on.
“I’m going with Rip to pick out paint,” I said again as I unlocked the cabinet in the desk that held my purse. I’d only started doing that since Jason and I had gotten stuck with each other. I didn’t trust him to not eat the snacks I kept in there or rub my toothbrush along a toilet rim if he had the chance. The booth was mine. I wasn’t sure what I would end up doing if they tried to put him with me permanently, like I had been Mack’s assistant for years, but I’d make sure it didn’t happen.
Somehow.
“Why?” he had the nerve to ask, like the last time we’d exchanged words, I hadn’t wanted to strangle him.
Did I need to give him an answer? No, but I did anyway. “Because he asked me to,” I responded as I locked the cabinet back up. He didn’t need to know that I had tried to get out of it.
“But now I’m stuck here doing your work,” Jason complained, like he wasn’t paid to do just that. He’d been acting like an abused puppy since yesterday. All meek and whiney, but not in a cute or likable way.
